A bar owner from central France stood trial on Monday for "manslaughter through wilful neglect" after one of his customers downed 56 shots of spirits to beat the bar's record.

The 57-year-old client, named Renaud, consumed the astronomical number of shots last October before his daughter and friends at a bar called "Le Starter" in Clermont-Ferrand.

The previous record of 55 shots in one evening was chalked up on a black board behind the bar.

His record-breaking bid saw Renaud down in the space of one minute 30 shooters – either straight shots or a blend of various spirits with mixers.

In all, he consumed around a litre of spirits.

He went into cardiac arrest after being carried home and was rushed to hospital, but died the next day.

On Monday, a French criminal court must rule whether the bar owner bears some responsibility in his patron's death.

According to his daughter the landlord of the bar whispered "only 12 to go" at one point, apparently encouraging him to keep going. "The owner served the father of my client when he was not in a fit state to understand what he was doing," the daughter's lawyer Antoine Portal told BFM TV.

"It is not known whether he would still be alive if he had not drunk the last 12 shots, but by downing those last shots, he was left with no chance," he said.

"It was a case of inciting someone to consume. That's an extremely serious mistake for a bar owner."